09/12/2012 Sunday Politics Scotland

Welcome to the Sunday Politics at the end of the week when we have

had an Autumn Statement with a distinct winter chill. A The

Chancellor said he would miss his debt target, that the country is

going to have to borrow even more and that we are looking at

austerity for as far as the eye can see. But business largely welcomed

the Autumn Statement, with its lower taxes on profits, tax relief

for investment and the binning of a rise in fuel duty. We'll ask the

Shadow Business Secretary if he agrees.

And, je ne regrette rien! I'm a Celebrity's Nadine Dorries tells us

she'd happily do it all again and lashes out at her tormentors.

The papers are full at of scurrilous lies about myself and my

family. In 7.5 years, I have never taken a single parliamentary day

away, not one. And on Sunday Politics Scotland,

we'll be asking if plans for unconventional gas exploration in

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1844 seconds

Scotland are a cheap energy dream That is a huge achievement in

politics. Is that all for the greater good of the Conservative

Party or for Madine Doris? If you go ran my constituency with me, you

would think it was for the greater good of the constituency. Other MPs

are telling me they are hearing the same from schools in their

constituency. Many schools in some constituencies, the pupils do not

know the names of MPs, particularly Conservative MPs. But people now

know who I am. It was for the greater good of Madine Doris?

think it was for the greater good of the Conservative Party. It shows

that Tory politicians are not afraid to go out and engage with

people. What size will the Phoebe when you have to declare it on the

Members' Register? -- fee be. interview every day, MPs, male MPs

who have outside interests, have you ever asked them what their

parents are? I have never your asking a male MP? Per haps he

should listen to our programme more often. Would you like to have the

whip restored? Of course I would. One of the issues he named his I

had to speak to my association. I spoke to them last week and there

was a 100% vote. You always have to, out in the street with me on my

constituency to know what my constituents think. -- to come out.

Would you do another television programme? A I think it is a once-

in-a-lifetime thing. I do not think I am likely to be offered another

reality TV programme. There are suggestions that if the Tory whips

will not restore the whip or impose tough conditions, you might defect

to UKip? I think you must be about the 20th person that has asked me

that over the last year. I am looking forward to receiving the

Tory whip back. I am a Conservative. Is it your intention up to fight

your constituency in the next election as a Conservative? Yes. I

very much hope so. And you wouldn't rule out running as a UKip

candidate at the election? I am very much hoping that I will have

my whip a restored in the not-too- distant future and I will fight

this constituency as a Conservative MP because I love his constituency,

I have given of my life to it for the last seven years. Do you think

your political career is effectively over? No, not at all.

It might just be beginning. What is the political ambition now for

Nadine Dorries? I have always had cost us that I haven't that -- I

have always had costs that I have championed such as reducing the

time limit on abortions. I hope now that people will listen and know

who I am. This is this Sunday Good morning and welcome to Sunday

Politics Scotland. Coming up on the programme.

The Chancellor wants cheaper gas. Splits in the kirk over the

ordination of gay ministers. We will be live outside the Tron

Church in Glasgow as its breakaway members hold their final service

before being evicted by the Church of Scotland.

And would a new law to cut high hedges down to size end the misery

of warring neighbours? We cannot see anything of the

countryside and it would not spoil our neighbour's views if they were

The Chancellor's autumn statement had a distinct wintry feel, but he

tried to warm us up with the promise of cheaper energy bills. As

we reach for the thermostat, the UK Government's gas strategy set out

how to exploit so-called unconventional gas. Those are

deposits buried deep below the ground. However, pilot projects are

coming under fire as people object to pipelines running underneath

their homes and concerns grow about the potential environmental impact,

as Andrew Kerr has been finding out Data energy has been extracting

coal bed methane at its test sites. It wants to expand the programme.

am very excited about this. We have been watching the decline of the

North Sea gas and that is very concerning. I am delighted we have

a resource that we can bring it to continue with this country's

progress and development. Chancellor published his gas

strategy alongside the Autumn statement to make the best use of a

low-cost gas, unconventional gas such as coal bed methane and Schuil.

Fracking is used for shale gas extraction. -- coal bed methane and

This is No. 8 in the system. The company are keen to point out that

the wellhead is unobtrusive, it will pump the methane into a gas

pipeline which is currently under used at the moment because of a

decline in North Sea gas. A key benefit of this exploration is the

security of supply it could provide the UK, keeping prices stable.

Additional gas from the UK and security of supply, we would have

it available all year round. despite assurances about health and

safety from the company, local people are concerned. They have

lodged objections to the planned development. In this ballot, they

say the pipeline will go under their homes. They have been backed

in their objections by nearby home builders and Network Rail. They one

the developer to less -- they want Our concerns about water, about

contamination of water, about methane gas in the ad was fear,

about how methane may percolate through the ground levels and we

feel that not enough has been done to raise awareness in at their

local area. The application is licensed by the UK Government's

Department for Energy. The local council decide on the planning and

the Environment Agency makes sure that regulations are kept. People

hear what the Scottish government to intervene. Ministers told us

shale gas has and coal bed methane are not included in our energy

plans for our national energy modelling. Environmental groups say

it is not they did -- it is not needed in Scotland. It is not a

economically viable unless the price of fossil fuel is very high.

We do not need it because there are plenty of renewable resources.

During these cold dark days, tuba bills that would be welcomed. But

this controversial new process makes some people feel it will have

a real impact on their lives. Joining me now in the studio is co-

convenor of the Scottish Green Party, Patrick Harvie MSP, and in

our Oxford studio, Labour's shadow energy Minister, the MP, Tom

Greatrex. Before we go into this in detail,

what are the potential benefits? They have not been proved. There is

a lot of excitable commentary on both sides, but we do not know what

the potential actually is. We will not know until we have a proper

investigation. We just do not know. Some of the things that George

Osborne was saying last week are misplaced. Were you able to get

their reassurances that you think would lead into a secure and safe

supply? I think we could look at to extract unconventional gas. But it

has to be done in the right order. Suggesting that activities could

commence before a proper regulatory processes are in place, and there

are a lot of different elements to this, and many authorities involved

in this, planning authorities in Scotland around clear where their

responsibilities lie, so we need to clear all that up and get it into a

very clear place to give reassurance to those people who are

quite rightly concerned about this. There has been a very poor

experience in the US. Are there any reassurances at all that would

persuade you this is a good way to go? There are many question-marks

about the local environmental impact and with the UK Government

looking to create incentives to explore the possibility of this

kind of extraction across 20,000 square, just in that Scotland, it

is likely that there will be different answers to that question

in different parts of the country. But one thing does not change. One

factor does not change weather it is fracking, coal bed methane, or

North Sea gas. We are adding to the problems of fossil fuel. We cannot

afford to burn fossil fuels if we are serious about climate change.

Every member of the Scottish Parliament is supposed to be

serious about climate change. A new -- for gas would not only loch in

dependence on gas, it will, I believe, take away from the

momentum that has been built up around of renewable energy. It

would replace them will also with gas -- renewables. But it would

mean cheaper gas bills and energy security, which is an increasingly

problematic area. Will that not up a political balance? -- tip. I

think it is more likely to be around security of supply than

price. We used a lot of gas in terms of heating, despite moves to

district heating schemes and energy efficiency. If we can have an end

deja the supply as opposed to at importing more, that would be a

good thing. I'm not sure that I by the argument about price. That

seems to be an extrapolation of the experience in the United States. It

is more to do the security of supply. It may help to stabilise

the price. I share some of the concerns of Patrick Harvie has

expressed about the -- for gas -- the dash for gas. We are subject to

the fluctuations in gas prices. And that has fed through to consumer

bills that has caused the concern we have spoken about before.

terms of renewables, would it not be argued that gas is the least

worst of the fossil fuels and it could play a transition role?

does have a transitional role, but for a period of time, they will

continue to need some element of gas on the grid. Even at the UK

Climate Change committee accept some need for gas. But they are

very concerned that the UK Government is building far too much

gas into their assumptions about the future. The Scottish government

says that unconventional gas does not figure in their models, but

they consistently refused to rule out supporting unconventional gas

extraction in that Scotland -- in that Scotland. If we build into

much gas, we will still bust the climate targets, we will not be

able to achieve that trajectory. We do need some gas on the grid, but

it needs to be a declining trajectory. In Scotland, we can do

that with the growth in that renewables. We must not risk that

momentum. The responses from local communities, do you think some of

this has gone under the radar? Some of the papers today our leading

with the story and potential problems, but it has not had a huge

public profile. Are you surprised by that? I am surprised by that. I

have been talking about this for quite a long time now, but I think

the trigger has been the gas strategy. If we are ever going to

use this technology, there needs to be public understanding and you

will not get that until people understand the issues. That is why

I welcome a wider debate on this. Vast areas of Scotland could be

involved here. Is that the case? Yes, a very large number of people

have heard something about this, if they have an interest in climate

change, but most people will have heard nothing. There are huge

swathes of central belt Scotland, heavily populated areas, that are

under threat of this development. They will experience this as an

immediate threat and find that with the UK Government, potentially

Scottish government, lining up in favour of the technology and local

planners not really able to make use of the climate change argument,

it will lobby for the local planners to be able to approve or

not. It will be very hard for those communities to marshal a successful

Argoud unless the Scottish government is willing to change his

An acrimonious split in the Church of Scotland over the ordination of

gay ministers has resulted in a breakaway by one of the

congregation's best-known churches, St George's Tron in Glasgow.

Officers have been sent to secure property. We can cross to our

reporter who was absurd the church. What is happening this morning?

Good morning. Yes, it is a day of change for the congregation here at

the St George's Tron. Some of them have been attending church here

every Sunday for 60 years, but this will be the last time. There is

about 20 minutes ago of the last service. They moved the evening

service to the new building. It follows what has really been a

bitter and unholy row since the congregation here decided to leave

the Church of Scotland. They voted in June, as a result of last year's

decision by the kirk to allow ordination of gay ministers. They

say that is a contradiction of the Bible. As a congregation, we feel

very strongly that the Church of Scotland has walked away from God's

word, and we were not prepared to walk away with them. As a church

family, we voted to leave the Church of Scotland and sought to

find some way we could continue to make good use of this building. We

are a big congregation and there are lots of things going on all

week, and we really wanted to keep on serving the city of Glasgow from

here, but it just did not seem possible to come to an arrangement,

and so here is our last service today. What has been the reaction

from the Church of Scotland leadership to this?

It is more or less justified and explained. The row has escalated in

the last six months, culminating in this week with Sheriff officers

interrupting prayer. The church says it is trying to get back some

of its property of this breakaway - - that this breakaway group is in

possession of. They dismiss any claims of intimidating behaviour

and say they are trying to protect their interests. People the in the

congregation at St George's Tron have a different approach to that

and they say that this is scandalous for this to be done.

They claimed they put in something like �2 million, their donations

that have paid for the prayer books and so on, and they should get to

keep them and that the Church is being heavy-handed. It is

disgraceful. It seems like they have no grasp of the way the

gospels should affect Christians. We have sunk �2 million into the

building, but if we are asked about to walk away from it, we will do

that gladly. We'll still be here and make sure our -- we fulfil our

city's motto, they Glasgow will flourish. That is about what the

congregation is all about, reaching everybody in the city with the good

news of Jesus. The issue of the ordination of gay ministers and

homosexual marriage seems to be an issue right across society. It is

one, as we come up to Christmas, which needs some further dialogue.

Neither of B-sides were able to come to an agreement, and in the

end, they had to sort it out through legal means, and that is an

interesting precedent. Thank you very much.

Now, from our Edinburgh studio, we are joined by the kirk historian

Harry Reid. Thank you for coming in. Given the Church has not yet have

an official position on gay ministers, what do you make of how

both sides have been behaving here? Am afraid to say that I do not like

either side's behaviour. The congregation at St fraught as Tron

-- St George's Tron have been precipitate, but I think the Church

has been heavy-handed as well. This is supposed to be the season of

peace and goodwill, and we are seeing little of that in this

disputes. -- this dispute. There will be other congregations to want

to leave, I am afraid, and they will probably leave in a fairly

chaotic manner, so I am sorry to say I think it is going to get

worse. Would this BB be evangelical wing

of the Church that is more likely to leave now? Yes, the evangelical

wing. There are some people in the evangelical wing he won not at all

happy with the way St George's Tron have behaved. They think they have

been precipitate, so you always have a split within a split --

almost have a split within a split, but certainly in the Highlands

There are many congregations who, before too long, will certainly be

thinking about following St George's Tron. In all of this, do

you think that the Church of Scotland still speaks as the

national church, and if so, to whom does it speak? Excellent question.

I do not really think it does manage to speak to Scotland, or

indeed to speak for Scotland, the way it could do even one generation

ago. Obviously, the more split it becomes, the less authority it has

when it seeks to speak. I know that many people within the Church of

Scotland are worried that the Catholic Church does seem to be

able to speak with more authority, and indeed more clarity, on many

issues, possibly people don't agree with it, but at least it speaks

clearly and lively and people here. The Church of Scotland often seems

very confused, and it often seems rather slow in responding to things

that are happening. So, I think for various reasons, the Church has

lost the ability to communicate with the people of Scotland, and I

think its status as a national church is very much in question.

What about the sort of people who may set up another church,

potentially? Is that a realistic possibility? We have heard the St

George's Tron congregation put in �2 million of their own money. Is

there a possibility that they could genuinely be a completely separate

church set up? It is a possibility, and there have been plenty of

precedents in Scottish history. The greatest one, of course, was the

destruction in 1843. About 400 ministers and 40% of the membership

of the then Church of Scotland actually split, and there was a

quite amazing period of new church building, new Banks's -- manses,

and a new church was created. But things are obviously very now --

very different now. Something might happen, albeit on a much smaller

scale. But it is pretty unedifying if what you're talking about his

Christian witness, and people are talking about looking at this from

the outside. Do you agree? Yes. The Church of Scotland has always had a

tendency to split. It has a fissile tendency, is the phrase that some

people use. It does not look good to the wider public and it makes

things very difficult for ordinary decent churchgoers in their

congregations. My own view is that sooner or later, the Church will

have to accept that it is not the national Church of Scotland and to

allow a loose federation of congregations to form. Some of the

congregations are very strong. They are going well. There are plenty of

people still in the Church of Scotland your active and

enthusiastic members. I often say that the political parties in

Scotland would give anything for the membership of the Church of

Scotland, but the problem is that this membership cannot cohere as a

cohesive national body. It is an interesting dynamic which has

changed to die man -- dramatically over the years, where the laity and

the leadership is divided. I am not so sure about that, Isabel. I think

the problem is that the Church leadership keeps changing. The

moderate changes each year, just when he or she is getting into

their stride. A new one comes along and we'll have to get used to renew

on -- to a new one. The same in the presbytery. But I don't think there

is necessarily a split their. -- a split there. A lot of

congregations... OK, thank you. Possibly, it is lawyer's in all of

this. Now, we crossover for the lunch

Good afternoon. The President of Egypt, Brown -- Mohammed Morsi, has

withdrawn a degree he issued last month which meant that judges could

not to test -- contest his decisions. The decree sparked

protests and led to accusations that Mr Morsi was behaving like a

because Ho -- a dictator. Egypt was in for a long siege after

the opposition rejected President Morsi's latest concession. The army

has been bolstering defences outside the presidential palace as

the protests continued. The president needed some -- met some

opposition leaders yesterday, but most of them boycotted. The

Government agreed to withdraw the decree giving President Morsi

sweeping new powers. TRANSLATION: It is decided that the

constitutional decree issued in November is cancelled as of today.

But the President offered no compromise on the issue of a

referendum on the new constitution, which will still go ahead next

Saturday. The opposition protesters are still here in Tahrir Square

today. As far as they are concerned, the President has not agreed to

their main demand, which is the postponement of a referendum on the

new constitution, and they are determined to continue their sit in

as long as it takes. Protesters today are as angry as ever.

TRANSLATION: President Morsi's cancellation of his decree has come

late in the game. It should be the case that every time we demand

something, it comes only after bloodshed. Meanwhile, supporters of

the President have been protesting on the outskirts of Cairo. They

accuse the private media of being biased towards the President and

the Muslim Brotherhood. They are pressing the President not to make

any concessions. -- they are worried that the media is biased

against the present. -- president. Scotland Yard has contacted police

in Australia over the hoax call made by a Sydney radio station to

the hospital which was treating the Duchess of Cambridge. The nurse who

answered the call, Jacintha Saldanha, was found dead and is

believed to have taken her own life. An inquest is due to open this week.

The presenters of the radio show are said to be receiving

counselling. Senior Conservatives have formed a

group to campaign for gay marriage. Legislation to allow churches and

other religious venues in England and Wales to opt into holding

ceremonies is expected to be introduced in Parliament before

Easter. The Prime Minister has given his full backing to the

proposals, despite intense opposition from within his own

party. England's cricketers have won the

third Test against India by seven wickets. They needed just 41 runs

for victory after bowling out the home side for 247. England Mallaig

b series 2-1. Alastair Cook said his players have been outstanding.

There will be more news on BBC One at 5:35pm.

Good afternoon. Worship is drawing to a close this lunch time at a

Glasgow kirk where the congregation is splitting from the Church of

Scotland. The minister and members of St George's Tron in the city

centre voted to leave in a row over the appointment of gay ministers.

The Church of Scotland has established a commission to look

into the issue. Worshippers today said it is mixed emotions today.

Very sad, really, that the situation has come to this, that as

a church family, we are having our last service here this morning. We

are sorry it is finishing in this way and that it has not been

possible to come to some sort of arrangement with us.

The Scottish Conservative leader is amongst a group of prominent Tories

to have formed a group to campaign for same-sex marriage. Ruth

Davidson is backing the policy, which will be unveiled for England

and Wales this week. Many in the party's traditional wing to oppose

it. There are plans for a Bill to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland.

Off-peak train fares will rise by 1% below inflation from 2016. The

Scottish Government is writing a condition into the contract for the

next rail franchise to peg off-peak fares. ScotRail has said the cost

of its tickets would rise by 3.9% next month.

Hundreds of runners are taking part in this year's Santa Dash in

Edinburgh and Glasgow. The annual ritual turns the roads into a sea

of red to raise money for charity. People in Aviemore will have the

chance to don the Santa Claus kit in two weeks.

It is a bit of a mixed bag, as far as the weather is concerned this

afternoon. For much of southern and central parts of the country, it

will remain dry with lovely spells of sunshine. Further North, it is

generally cloudy with frequent showers for much of the far North

and the North East. These will be wintry on the hills, with one or

two wintry showers on love levels for the likes of Shetland. There

will be some brisk north-westerly wind in the West, and also a strong

to gale-force wind for part of the far North.

That is all for the moment. Back to Now we have heard of road rage, but

the latest kind of rage being complained about at Holyrood is

hedge rage. Disputes about how high a neighbour's hedge is may sound

trivial, but those who suffer say it has made their lives a misery.

They are hoping a bill at Holyrood will create a law that will end

their plight. Christine MacLeod reports.

Our living room window faces these leylandii trees. We cannot see

anything of the lovely Angus countryside. It would not spoil our

neighbour's views. Palmer has spent 13 years trying to get her

neighbours to cut back the hedge. Her efforts to communicate them it

with -- communicate with them personally have all failed. We did

not know how fast they were going to grow. When they did start

growing, we complained to our neighbours, ask them nicely if they

would cut them down. They declined. She says it has left her mentally

and physically drained. Her last hope is a change it to the law.

Under proposed legislation, if mediation fails, councils can be

cold him -- called in. Some councils are already welcoming the

idea. At the moment, a council has nothing they can do if and Labour

complains. The best we can do is recommend that they take out a

civil action against their neighbour, which creates more

problems. We think this will go vastly cut the number of complaints

we get because it will change people's behaviour. But some

lawyers need convincing of this, saying it a new a lot could be too

bureaucratic in practice and could prolong the agony of disputes and

also make them at more expensive are. They have introduced a system

which is multi- staged. There has to be an attempt at an agreement.

If that does not work, they have to go to the council. If you are

aggrieved at that decision, you can appeal. This new process, will it

speed things up or slow things down? I am not sure or convinced

that it will make things better. The Bill has the majority backing

of the Scottish government and is set to become law by next spring,

bringing Scotland into line with the rest of the UK which already

has legislation to tackle high hedges.

In our Aberdeen studio. .. In our studio, the SNP MSP who

proposed the bill Mark McDonald. can have such an impact on

individuals and given that Scotland is the only part of the UK that

does not have legislation in place to deal with this, it is long

overdue. How will it work in practice? Is it to do that location,

the height of the hedge? The light issue is the issue that we have

used in the legislation as the determining factor. In terms of

height, the one thing to get clear is it does not prescribe a height

which every hedge in height must comply with. If there is a dispute

that is and resort, an application can be made added will be Hedges of

the real heights above two metres that people have a dispute with. I

am not recommending that people Cup their hedges down where there is no

disappeared. I believe this legislation will help with disputes.

We have heard from a lawyer that this could be many stages involved

in this bill. It could extend the problems that people have to put up

with all this. It could also be very expensive. I was interested by

the comments the there. At the moment, there is not a resolution

to the process, so how can it slowdown any resolution to the

dispute? The options that were open to me was a solution involved with

a local authority, or one going through the courts? Accord based

solution would have led to a significantly higher costs. -- a

quarter court based. It is up for local authorities to decide what

their costs for will be. I do not think this is our piece of

legislation for revenue raising. The Scottish Parliament Information

Centre believes the cost could be around �500? A if you look at

evidence south of the border, we have looked at what is being

charged in England and Wales, it does be a up to several hundred

pounds with an average fee of five of around �350. Where there is cost

capping, everybody charges of the maximum they can charge. It is

expected that all reasonable steps will be taken to resolve matters,

could that not be difficult to define it legally? At what happens

if a council cannot get their money, they will have to go back to court?

I think it is important to look south of the border for instruction

as to how this might pan out. Down south, when the legislation came in,

most cases dealt with themselves because the ones legislation is

introduced, people tend to modify their behaviour. There were a

number of cases were complaints had to be made and enforcement notice

has given -- notices given. Only a very small number of cases did

local authorities get involved further. I am not going to

prescribe or one solution. It is for local authorities to determine

the best way to enforce this legislation and recover their costs.

Thank you very much. It is International Human Rights

Day tomorrow and that is when negotiations get under way on a new

action plan for Scotland. What do you think when you hear human

rights? A chancer's charter or the guarantor of a fairer society? Or

nothing to do with you? Human rights are running through every

area of our everyday lives whether it is welfare, housing, fuel

poverty, education, policing. The list is endless. The Scottish Human

Rights Commission says we still have big gaps in important areas

like health and fair pay and the new action plan will fire up some

solutions to that. And there is a big pat on the back today for the

work of the Scottish Commission. It has been singled out for praise by

the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi

Pillay. The Scottish Human Rights

Commission is one of the most dynamic human rights commissions in

Europe and currently chair of the European group of national human

rights institutions. It is helping draw up a national action plan for

human rights as a central means to ensure the implementation of the

universal human rights in practice. With me now in the studio is the

Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission Professor Alan Miller.

Do you think human rights always get the credit they deserve?

always. I think certain government ministers in the United Kingdom

often call for an -- for a repeal of the Human Rights Act. In

Scotland, in the time that I have been chair of the Scottish Human

Rights Commission, I have never had a door closed to me. I have found

everywhere I have gone and everyone I have worked with, a basic sense

of fairness and of decency and an increase recognition that human

rights has a place in that strengthening those in our society,

giving more guarantee and definition to what is fair in

Scotland. In health and social care, there is a very open welcome to

human rights strengthening the policy agenda there of increased

personal care. Him at Dumfries and Galloway, police were carrying out

our criminal exploitation a of foreign migrant workers and the

spokesman said our primary objective is to uphold the rights

of foreign migrant workers. That is different from what we hear from UK

ministers. Later this month, there is to be a report from another

commissioner set up by the UK Government as to weather to

introduce a Bill of Rights and replace the human rights act. My

view is that I do not think this side of the next UK election, I do

not think anything will, of that. It is Westminster rhetoric which

does not go down internationally or in Scotland. Tomorrow, when we are

getting people round the table, it will be a much more people centred

and practical, prioritised discussion. The practical

application of human rights in terms of discrimination, fear pay,

education, there are so many areas that we should be looking at

practically in Scotland. We have just finished doing a mapping of

their realisation of human rights in Scotland. What we have found is

that Scotland, particularly since devolution, has much to be proud of,

but could do better. In a traffic light system, our laws, get a green

light. Strategy is green to amber. But in red, where we had read his

in outcomes. How people are living under the welfare cuts. We have to

ensure that return good intentions into good practice. Some of these

are beyond the powers of Scotland because of the constitutional

arrangements. I think the National Action Plan from Scotland's pointed

you is that when these cuts are introduced by the UK Government,

there must be a human rights impact assessment done before these

decisions are made. There must be a flop budgetary analysis as to what

should be -- there must be a thorough budgetary analysis. People

who cannot find work still have the right to a life of dignity. When we

read about human rights, it is usually about a tabloid headline

relating to prisoners. I think there is a problem with that.

Certain sections of the press for historical reasons thought him and

writes it would be a threat to a free press. But now they are

finding out that human rights could be the best friend to the press.

But I think the influence of those sections of the press and

politicians can be overplayed. Most people understand that they do need

human rights. Any object of opinion poll that is done, asking people to

rate the Human Rights they think are important, there is widespread

report for free speech, fair trial, privacy, health care. People keep

saying about European Human Rights, but it is courts of law. It is not

European law, it is got here law -- it has got slot. The rupee and

convention in Scots law. Yes, you are right. -- the European

convention is Scots law. Now in a moment, we'll be discussing the big

events coming up next week but, first, let's take a look back at

the Week in Sixty Seconds. The Chancellor confirmed austerity

measures will go on 2018 to 2000 AD team. I welcome the fact that the

Scottish government's argument has been accepted by the Chancellor.

This evidence has been steering him in the face for two years. He

should have taken this decision earlier. Hunterston nuclear power

station gets and extend it lifeline -- extended.

Chanel showcased his latest collection in the move go.

And this is the first anniversary of the plan does. -- pandas.

And now let's take a look forward to the next seven days. Joining me

today is Professor Murray Pittock, the Vice Principal and Head of the

College of Arts at Glasgow University. And the writer and

commentator Katie Grant. Let's start with gas. It is in the

papers today and we had been covering it. Do you think the story

about unconventional gas supply is widely understood? No. I think some

people are showing anxiety about this already, but the indication is

that the implications have not been worked through. There is possibly a

lot more to come. I think the key issue here is that we are going to

be in our resources paradox soon. There is a need for greater

reduction in fossil-fuel views, but there is a greater need to exploit

for also fuels -- fossil fuels. have had a lot of coverage about

cost of our fuel bills. But this has not been married it together

with a new exploitation. It is a funny sort of thing that is going

on. I think we will see much more confusion about people who are

quite keen about the idea of renewables, but are terrified of

their own fuel bills. I think people will want to know more about

this unconventional gas exploitation. We are nervous about

it. Reread commentators at it is like seeing, if we only drive... --

reread commentators and it is like saying we should all be dry that 20

miles per hour. Prices keep rising. Some religious stories. Parliament

is like mural to Christians. These What Cameron is saying about same-

sex marriages in churches, about gay clergy, can that really be

equated to the obscenities, torture and persecution of Christians under

Nero? No. That is where the Catholic Church gets it extremely

wrong. When concentrating on religious issues, they come out

with wild statements, equating day marriage to slavery, peculiar

analogies drawn. Bidders but do the Church any credit. The Church has

an argument to make whether you agree with it or disagree with it,

but I do not think this is very helpful, and it makes the Church

look a bit bonkers. When I first saw this comment, I thought it was

about Cameron doing nothing in the face of a continuous recession. As

a statement to describe allowing minority group to campaign for a

gay marriage, it probably sounds completely in excess of the facts,

such as they are. In a sense, this goes back to your St George's Tron

story. There is still a desire, a clerical desire, that somehow

government should represent the UK or Scotland as a Christian country.

And the Government is not capable of doing that because it is a large

and secular society. But the annoyance comes out in exaggerated

rhetoric. But there is a lot of fear because everybody knows that

once you start down this road, there will be challenges. In the

end, gay marriages going to be accepted. It is going to be in the

churches, and that is going to be the law. It is a sign of the Times,

as Jesus himself said. We're going to see much more of this rather

frantic campaigning by the Church in order to make their point, and

the rhetoric will get wilder and wilder, or the where we go from

hero, I am not sure! I suppose the political influence of the church

is an interesting question. Despite the profile it has had to and the

pressure to reply, can you think of an instance in which it has had any

significance in Midlands recently? I'm thinking of Section 28, you

know what I mean. I think probably the Catholic Church has succeeded

in speaking for Scotland in the way the kirk of Scotland has ceased

Sidhu. But it has not had an effect on legislation. It has tended to

put a brick court on or create controversies. -- put a brake on.

In a way, you could say that it has held back developments or made them

go more slowly, but that -- has it stopped or reversed things? No. It

is difficult to do that in a secular context. Before we finish,

human-rights, does it have the profile up those who supported

might hope for? Auras are dominated by distorting headlines?

It is certainly dominated by headlines which get people very

cross. It might be helpful if it was matched by a day of

international human responsibilities. That is what many

people feel, that there are too many rights and too few

responsibilities. A focus on human rights is always going to be

reported a slightly skewed way. Briefly. Are you a human rights

supporter? You can hardly oppose human rights. What is interesting

is the degree of consent in Scotland about fairness and human

rights and the willingness to look at our national obligations, which

is starting to decay South of the border. It is an interesting

contrast. Thank you very much. That is all from us this week. I